Page 59 of I'd Never Date my Best Friend's Brother

“I’ll take beautiful.” He chuckles again just as he presses his lips to mine for a quick peck. “Do you want to put those flowers in water before you crush them?”

“Oh.” I look down at my hand. “I forgot I was still holding them. If someone hadn’t distracted me, they would’ve already been in water.”

A smile lights his face, and he removes his hand from my face just as his other hand slides off my back. I miss his touch immediately but head into the kitchen. I can feel his eyes on me as I grab a vase and start to fill it with water. “These flowers are perfect. What are they?”

“Just primrose and holly.”

“Thank you.” I look at him and smile as I drop the flowers into the vase and place it on the table. “I love them.”

“I’m glad.” I look up to meet his gaze. “Sooo are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

His eyes take on a mischievous glint, and he shakes his head back and forth. “Let me grab your coat. We need to get moving.”

“Jamie.” He holds my coat out for me, and I stick one arm in at a time. “Are you really not going to tell me where we’re going?” I rest my hands on his chest and look through my lashes up at him.

He rests his hands on my arms, smiles so very sweetly, and kisses the top of my head. “Nope.” he pops the ‘p’. “Got everything you need before we leave?”

I nod.

“Good.” With that, he heads out my front door and walks to his car, leaving me with my mouth hanging open.

Guess this really is a surprise.

When we turn on to Highway 120, near Yosemite, I’m pretty sure I know exactly where he’s taking me.

“Snow tubing?” I ask in surprise. “You’re taking me snow tubing?”

“Do you remember the last time we came here?” A smile crosses his face as he pulls into the parking lot and parks the car.

“I do. It was the winter before Liam told us he was joining the military.”

“And right before Sean starred in Endless Blue, the movie that officially made him a movie star.” He chuckles. “We all knew he was going to be famous, but we had no clue how much it was going to affect our lives.”

I remember the first time Sean came home after that movie. The entire population of Willow Falls was thrilled to have a movie star in their midst. It took them a full weekend for the thrill to wear off so that Sean could just be Sean.

He loved sharing every minute of it with them, but in the same token it was hard to go from an Average Joe to a super star and I could see the toll it took on him.

“I also remember the time we came here as kids, and the five of us tried to go in one tube.” Both my mom and Lenny were screaming at us helplessly as they watched us race down the hill.

“Oh yeah.” He nods and chuckles as the memory comes back to him. “I think I ended up with a broken wrist; Sean had a broken leg; you had a sprained ankle while Jessica and Liam somehow managed to stay on the tube.”

I shake my head at the memory. “And you thought us coming here tonight was a good idea?” I turn to face him with my arms crossed, and he laughs at me. I narrow my eyes teasingly at him.

“That was a long time ago, and the last time we came, no one got hurt.” He looks at me with a crooked grin, and I feel my heart melt a bit. “I thought it would be fun to just let loose and have some fun. What better way to do that than tubing?”

I continue to narrow my eyes at him and do my darnedest to keep a stern look on my face, but I can’t. He’s practically begging me with his eyes to act like a kid and be silly with him.

How could I say no to that?

“I know how to let loose—” It’s his turn to narrow his eyes and tilt his head. “Okay. Okay. Fine. I know how to let loose; I just rarely do.”

“I think your brother is rubbing off on me.” He cups my cheek and whispers in my ear.

“How so?” I say a bit breathlessly.

“All of his winter-themed holiday agenda stuff.” He smiles as he looks out the front windshield of the car toward the hill where the tubing is going on and points. “This is another winter activity.”

“I see what you mean.” I chuckle and meet his gaze. “But just plain old dinner in a warm room would’ve definitely been boring.”

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